Irritation
by IsomorphicTARDIS
Summary: Oneshot! Skulker does a little bit of introspecting, Ember is quite helpful, and the Box Ghost is anything but. Rated because I'm honestly too lazy to put anything else.


***Rubs back of neck with hand* Wow. I'm picking things up from this show. Er ... Hi. Yeah, I know, I've made ****_another_**** Danny Phantom oneshot. I'm an expert procrastinator, what can I say? Anyway - on with the story!**

**R&R!**

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Skulker tilted his head, his eyes trailing the box ghost as he came shooting through the Fenton Portal, spinning across to the other side of the Ghost Zone. The Ghost Zone's greatest hunter only sighed at the fading "Beware!" as the Box Ghost flew out of earshot.

Skulker stayed near the Portal for a while after this, even making himself an ectoplasmic chair to watch as the Box Ghost came floating back through for the fifth time in what Skulker had calculated to be three hours. Skulker had to give it to him, the irritating ghost _did_ know his way around the natural Portals in the ghost zone better than anybody. It wasn't until Skulker looked back at the Portal, anticipating the Box Ghost to plunge through again, that he saw Danny Fenton stick his head through the portal. The whelp sighed, glancing at Skulker before saying, "Dumb Box Ghost. Next time you see him, can you tell him I've got homework to do?"

Skulker, not interested enough to fight the halfa, never mind argue, simply nodded. He also added, "I doubt it will help, ghost child. But I shall deliver the message." The human just rolled his eyes, giving a curt nod before disappearing to the other side of the Portal.

Finding nothing else attention piquing for the moment, Skulker simply hid out by the Portal, checking his watch every now and then to time the Box Ghost. "Twenty minutes," Skulker told him the next time he came flying out. "You're steadily getting better." However, the Box Ghost had no time to respond with anything other than a faint, "Thank you!" as he spun, once again, through the Ghost Zone.

After another long wait of three hours, the Box Ghost appeared, this time floating of his own accord into the Ghost Zone, drifting over to Skulker and leaning onto his ectoplasmic chair as he caught his breath. The ghost hunter raised a single eyebrow. "Be … Ware … The Box … Ghost … shall rest … now … " And, with that, the annoyance fell asleep, leaning on Skulker's metallic shoulder. Skulker rolled his eyes, pushing the Box Ghost off of him with a rough shove that did nothing to stir the ghost from his unconscious state.

A few moments later, Ember came whizzing out of the Fenton Portal, catching herself before she shot past Skulker. Her guitar lay limply at her side, her hair frazzled and bruises covering her skin. She was panting heavily. " … little help?"

Skulker frowned, standing from his chair – which the Box Ghost immediately stole – and floating over to Ember, who had already conjured her own chair out of surrounding ectoplasm from the Ghost Zone. The ghost hunter crouched next to her, drifting his hand across his girlfriend's face and hands. When he brought his hands back, she was completely healed, and was glowing with a much brighter, pink hue. Her hair wasn't completely frazzled anymore, but it was still hanging down to her shoulders without a pony-tail. Skulker sighed, saying, "I don't know why you insist on battling so violently – weakening yourself just as much as that whelp will not help you."

Ember snorted, leaning into his boyfriend's cold touch as he carded slender, robotic fingers through her flaming hair. "Actually, it wasn't quite like the other times." She blushed, as much as a ghost could, and Skulker looked down at her, confused. Her face grew irritated, much like Skulker's – or, in fact, any other ghost's – did whenever the Box Ghost was near. "Phantom wasn't as tired as usual, and, it turns out, he's got a new power. One that seems a bit mocking." Skulker raised his eyebrows and huffed a laugh. "The ghost boy mocked you?" His face grew solemn as Ember glared at him. "What is this new power?" he asked, quickly changing the subject.

Ember rolled her eyes. "He calls it his 'Ghostly Wail'. What does that even mean?" Skulker simply shrugged, and his girlfriend continued. "Anyway, the ectoplasm in his vocal chords strings together and creates waves – sound waves – of power. But, instead of attracting emotions and objects, like my singing, it repels it. Right now, my throat feels like it's being ripped apart from the inside."

Skulker frowned, sneaking a hand under his girlfriends chin as he instructed her to speak. As soon as he felt the vibrations, he could tell how much damage had been done. And, right now, pummeling the insolent whelp would really do a lot to satisfy him. Which brought him to a question he had been pondering the entire day.

"Do you think the whelp is more annoying as a human or as a ghost?" he asked out of nowhere, and he felt his girlfriend start under his fingers as she contemplated the random question. "Huh," she said. "I never thought about it."

Skulker nodded absentmindedly, saying, "I never did either. Except for today – I saw him whining to me about telling the Box Ghost to lay off of him, because he had homework. But now, you come back in this state – " He didn't miss her glare at this, " – and I'm not sure which half is more irritating." Ember nodded, looking up at his boyfriend.

"Well, look at it like this," she said, laying her head in Skulker's lap as he carded cool finger through her hair once more. "While he's human, he has to keep his entire life hidden from everyone else, excepting his few friends. Kind of like how we do. But, while he's a ghost, he only hides his identity as his human half. While he's a ghost, he can be whatever he wants to be – confident, relaxed, and he can get whatever kind of adrenaline high he's adapted to." Skulker looked at her, still confused. Ember sighed, thinking for a moment.

"Alright, how about this. We ghosts always hide our pasts from each other, especially in the presence of humans, right?" Skulker nodded. "Good. But, when we interact with each other, become friends or … something more, we learn all we can about that other person. Right?" Skulker nodded this time, a smile crossing his face as he thought about his and Ember's relationship. "But with Phantom, it's the exact same thing. He hides his ghost half from his family, and he did hide it from his friends, right? But then he interacted. He brought them all into it and revealed his 'past', or, in this case, his ghost half."

Skulker nodded, but rolled his eyes soon after. "Okay, but where are you going with this?" Ember sighed exasperatedly. "Gimme a minute!

"So, he's got the people he's revealed his ghost half to. But then, he's got us. And we know about his identity – about him being a halfa." Skulker opened his mouth to interrupt again, but Ember beat him to it.

"Just – one thing. Can you imagine, suddenly, every single human on their planet knew everything about you?" Skulker scoffed, "That's absolutely preposterous, and definitely not – "

"But _can_ you? Just imagine it. One day, everything that every happened to you – every little mishap, mistake … " her voice lowered as she drew her eyes away from Skulker's. " … every little hunting incident." Skulker jerked, looking down at his girlfriend in shock, but she looked up at him defiantly. "_Everyone_ knows. How would you deal with them?"

Skulker paused for a moment, feeling the shock receding and letting contemplation take it's place. "… I would deal with them as swiftly as I could. Not wanting to stay with them for longer than I have to," Skulker replied softly, and Ember nodded, snuggling up further next to her girlfriend.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, entwining her tan, soft, translucent fingers with his grey ones. "I just wanted you to understand."

Skulker laughed, the bobbing of his chest making Ember look up. Her face twisted. "What?" she said sharply. Skulker merely chuckled, saying, "Now I understand why the ghost-child hates the Box Ghost more than most of us." Ember sighed, rolling her eyes.

At about this time, the Box Ghost had awoken from his snooze, and sleepily drifted near the Portal, sniffling a small, "Beware," to the couple on the side before floating through the Portal.

Skulker and Ember both laughed as an aggravated yell was heard from the other side of the Portal, and the Box Ghost came soaring through once more.

"Beware!"

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**Oh, Box Ghost, you irritate everybody. Well, that's all I've got. Love if you'd review, any type of feedback is great. Thanks. So - R&R!**

**~IsomorphicTARDIS**


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